XXI
SAVAGE LIFE IN CENTRAL AUSTRALIA"
THIS work describes the country, the habits, customs, and
beliefs of the Wonkonguru and their neighbours, tribes of
South Australia whose territory lies immediately to the east
of Lake Eyre. The principal author of the work, Dr. Home,
tells us that the book is the result of a visit which he paid
to the district; but when the visit was paid, and how long
it lasted, he omits to say. The other author, Mr. Aiston, of
the Mounted Police, has lived for many years among the
natives, and has consequently enjoyed ample opportunities
of collecting information concerning them. The book is
therefore a very welcome addition to our knowledge of the
Central Australian natives, all the more so because the tribes
with which it deals are not included in the great ethno-
graphical survey which Spencer and Gillen have given of
Central Australia in books which have long been anthropo-
logical classics. The present book may be regarded in some
sort as a supplement or appendix to these great works, and
to that of Dr. A. W. Howitt on the tribes of South-Eastern
Australia; for Dr. Howitt deals to some extent with the
tribes described by Dr. Home and Mr. Aiston, particularly
with the Dieri tribe, who are the neighbours of the Wonkon-
guru on the south.
The general effect of the inquiries of Dr. Home and Mr.
Aiston is not so much to add to our knowledge of the Central
Australian aborigines as to confirm in all respects the evidence
of their eminent predecessors, even on points which have been
Savage Life in Central Australia. By G. Home and G. Aiston,
Mounted Police of South Australia. (London : Macmillan, 1924.)
(The Times Literary Supplement, October 9, 1924.)
399